Routine
by Forgotten Rhapsody
Summary: AU. He always followed a certain routine in his life. She, to him, was an exception.


_Standard disclaimer applied._

_. Forgotten Rhapsody_

**_Routine._**

**i.**

.

Uchiha Sasuke was a man who kept to his daily routines. Small things, like arranging his sofa cushions, sorting out his deceased mother's plates and checking if the bathroom mirror was clean. Never ever, did he break this everyday formula.

For such a man to accept new things in life was close to null. Unfortunately, his resolve to do so broke after he met a certain woman: Sakura.

She broke all laws of the world; her eyes were an eccentric emerald, framed by rose locks, fitting to her birth-name. Her forehead was larger than the standard size most girls possessed. She was rather short, a great contrast to her visible curves, curves that were all in the right places; or at least to his eyes.

(Actually, they were obviously in the right places. Men would check her out all the time. Being Sasuke, of course, he didn't care. In fact, he didn't notice those lust-filled glances. He would repeat that fact to himself many times.)

They met at a local café: coming to this café was part of Sasuke's daily routine. After a day of hard (tiring) work, he would head to this place; he was extremely fond of this place. Not only was it usually empty, it had a slight tinge of his mother's smell, peppermint. Every time he was here, he would look outside the window and watch people walking by, and simply think. This place made you do that, really it did. Think. The only flaw was its waiter.

The waiter, a certain Kakashi or so would always give Sasuke his usual drink, a black café Americano. And Sasuke would drink it, no sugar of course (he hated sweets. Sweets in coffee included). After doing so, Kakashi would just sit on a stool at the counter, smoking a thin cigarette, and reading a little orange book – which Sasuke suspected was an erotic novel.

It was a Friday night, a rainy Friday night, and that was when she entered the café.

Soaking wet, hair dripping, mascara running down her eyes, she did not look the least attractive. Her hair looked like cat's yarn, and her dark green heels were caked with mud. As soon as she entered, she opened her umbrella (Sasuke assumed she didn't believe in superstitions) then closed it numerous times, sprinkling rain from the outside everywhere in the café. She stopped, looked around, and spotting Sasuke sipping his daily coffee, smiled and walked up to him.

"Can I sit here?"

Her voice was clear and bubbly, so different from what she actually looked like at the time.

"…N-"

Before Sasuke finished his sentence (Sasuke valued that. Finishing sentences and pronouncing all syllables properly), she plopped down in the chair in front of him and sighed. He lifted a brow and scowled.

"Stupid rain. Just the day I have a job interview, it pours, doesn't it? And all the other days I lie in bed and wish for rain, it doesn't rain. I love the sound of rain on window panes – really, it's soothing…but of course, you wouldn't know that,"

She smiled, and her white pearls glistened in the dark. He didn't like admitting this – it made him sound like a wuss, but she had a beautiful smile. One of those smiles that would just brighten a dark mood, a kind of smile you never grew tired of. It vaguely reminded him of his mother.

"Name's Sakura, by the way,"

Sakura. A common name, but to Sasuke it was the first time he met someone who's name was so fitting.

"Not much of a talker, are you? Got a stick up your ass?"

"…Fuck off."

The girl laughed, and her laugh tinkled, like the sound of soft rain on glass.

"You're the one who wasn't talking," she rolled her eyes. "Waiter?"

"Yes, miss?"

"A cappuccino please!"

The silver-haired waiter nodded and winked, earning a giggle from the girl. Her smile lingered for a fraction of a second, and then she turned her head around, her attention once again back on the quiet boy.

"Name?"

"…"

"I told you mine before, so it's not like I'm being rude…"

Her voice wavered, and she bent over, her eyes staring at something. Just when Sasuke thought she was completely mad, she snapped back up, grinning.

"…Uchiha Sasuke,"

The said owner of the name stared at her.

"No, I am not stalking you. It just says so on your briefcase."

Sasuke glanced at his chair's legs, where his briefcase was placed. His name, 'Uchiha Sasuke', was written in neat print on one of the front flaps.

"Hn."

"Finally! Got you to respond without vulgarity," she paused; Kakashi had come with her cappuccino. "Thank you!"

Opening the sugar tin on the middle of the table, she picked up with her index and middle finger, two sugar cubes. Her fingers were slender and long. Plopping the two squares in her coffee, she stirred it with her spoon, then sipped a bit of the liquid with her spoon, spinning it around until her tongue could lick the concave face of the spoon. Her eyes looked up, and smiling, she stated, "Just a habit."

For the next two hours, Sasuke listened to Sakura ramble on, complaining about her current job at a local flower shop and how she wanted to become a nurse. A few anecdotes about her past love life somehow squeezed into her long ramble, and to his own surprise, Sasuke did not push her away nor did he leave the café. In fact, every once in a while he would groan a 'Hn' or 'Aa', which for him was joining in a conversation; and he had barely just met the girl. She was queer and very straight-forward, exactly the type of person he did not like associating with; but she had a strangely comforting aura around her, and her smile was…addicting.

Her eyes were now smudged with the mascara that was previously running, for while she talked, she dabbed at her eyes, trying to clean off the running black liquid.

_Raccoon._

"…So yes, I-"

Sasuke glanced at the girl. "I need to get going now."

He picked up his briefcase, fixed the collar of his polo and stood up stiffly. Then without a word, turned around, walking towards the exit.

"Do you come here every day?"

Her voice rang from behind him, clear, but with less enthusiasm compared to when she was talking (one way) to him.

Sasuke, a man of routines, should, and normally would have just continued walking on. His everyday routine, his everyday life would have been conserved. For the first time in his life since his parent's death, something had broken his routine. But instead of walking on, Sasuke stopped. Turning his head slightly towards the side, he mumbled, "Aa."

And she, Sakura, smiled bright smile.

"Will I see you tomorrow, then?"

Sasuke concluded she really was out of the ordinary – they met just a few hours ago, and now she was asking whether she would be seeing him again.

But yet again, he responded, in a way he usually would have never done.

He smirked, and said, "Perhaps."

He had broken his routine a second time.

Turning his head back towards the exit, he went out, took out his umbrella from the back pocket of his briefcase and opened it, ready to face the heavy rain. His mind was blank, his clothes lingering with the smell of peppermint.

At the time, what Sasuke did not know, was that breaking his routine two times would result in it never coming back. She was an exception to his routine, and he was not aware that from this point on, she would become a daily exception.

.

.

"_Got a stick up your ass?"_

_._

"…_Fuck off."_

_._

**_Routine._**

_

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_A/N: So how is it so far? R.R please. I have an obsession with jazz bars and cafés, if you haven't noticed. This story obviously is no exception to that rule.  
__& yes, I've escaped the clutches of one-shots._


End file.
